


I promise I'll be good!

by greeny1710



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Angst, Fluff, M/M, Parent!Mor, Sebastian Moran and Jim Moriarty are Parents, parentmor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-21
Updated: 2016-05-21
Packaged: 2018-06-09 21:26:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,846
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6924037
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/greeny1710/pseuds/greeny1710
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jim Moriarty? Not a man you'd assume would be a parent. </p><p>Sebastian Moran? Maybe, just maybe, he'd be a parent.</p><p>Enter: Alex Moran.</p><p>*the Major Character Death is only really mentioned tbh*</p>
            </blockquote>





	I promise I'll be good!

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so this was meant to be like a 2k fluffy MorMor fic that was meant to be pretty adorable and parentmor and just lovely.
> 
> It turned into this 6k monster.
> 
> I'm so sorry.
> 
> My Instagram & Tumblr are both found under: moriarty009 if you want to come and harass me.
> 
> Feel free to leave comments, suggestions and whatever else you feel like! Any prompts are more than welcome!
> 
> Thank you for taking the time to read this, I love you all x

"Daddy? Where's Father?" 

"I'm sorry baby, Father's not coming home."

~~~~~

The first day Sebastian mentioned that his brother-in-law had spoke to Sebastian about looking after his son, Jim had glared and enquired as to why they had to look after Jim's nephew when there was a whole army of spies and criminals who actually liked kids enough to actually care for the kid.

"Jim, it's Finley, he's your nephew. You need to get to know him better."

"Raider's that desperate to get me know his son that he spoke to you about it rather than me?"

"Yeah, pretty much." Sebastian told him, pulling Jim by the hand to head back out of the door and head towards Raider's place. 

"Why do we have to look after Finley? Can't we just go out for dinner together rather than look after it for a week."

"Don't call Finley 'it', and because Raider and Owen have to head out of town for a bit, they've got to go to Wales for Owen's Uncle's funeral and Raider doesn't want Finley to miss school."

Begrudgingly, Jim followed Sebastian down the stairs and into Sebastian's car of choice, today's being a Chevrolet 2014 Stingray, and allowed for Sebastian to drive them over to Raider's apartment. As Sebastian drove them, Jim stared glumly out of the window and pondered upon why his brother was forcing him to bond with the kid, he wasn't exactly a fan of kids so why the hell did he have to bond with it? He was fine just dealing with the kid when he was with either of his parents, rather than be left alone with it. 

"C'mon Jim." Sebastian said as he cut the engine. 

Glaring daggers at Sebastian's back as he climbed out, Jim shoved the door open and sighed loudly as he heaved himself out the door, banging it shut behind him and causing Sebastian to glare at him in return.

"Stop it with the fucking attitude, he's your nephew, it's a week, he'll spend more time at school than he will in your shitty company." Sebastian huffed as he walked towards the front door. Banging on the door once, Sebastian twisted the door handle and stepped inside.

"It's me!" He shouted, the sound of his voice echoing throughout the house, "Where's my darling boy?"

"I'm here, Seb!" Raider replied, causing Sebastian to laugh loudly as he turned into the front room on the left of the house. There he was met with the sight of Owen holding Raider over his shoulder, with Raider smiling brightly at Sebastian.

"I was talking about that marvellous son of yours, however you are second best, Raid." 

"Rude, Seb!" Raider responded as Owen chucked him onto the sofa. "I'll just run up and get him, he's just finishing getting changed from school."

Raider ran off up the stairs and left Jim and Sebastian alone with Owen Shaw.

"How's work been then, Owen?" Sebastian enquired as they all sat down.

"Not too bad, Deck's took the brunt of it this week with everything happening with my Uncle, I've been trying to get the funeral sorted. Deck's been really good about it all, he's working on getting a new chip from Estonia to hopefully compromise the security of Central European countries."

"That must be fun." Jim muttered.

"Well when your husband is a genius and your a criminal mastermind, big brother does whatever you ask of him." Owen replied, smirking coldly at him.

"Oh, you mean that husband that you left for two years?"

"The very husband, the boy I get to fuck, yeah that one. Otherwise known as your darling little brother."

"Owen!" Raider shouted, stopping him and Jim from arguing any further as he came into the room with Finley. Finley was holding his favourite dinosaur tightly in his arm and ran straight through to climb into his Father's lap, waving shyly at Sebastian as he hid his face in Owen's neck.

"Hey no, you're not shy!" Owen told him, extracting Finley from his neck and hugging him tightly. "You're going to have fun with Uncle Sebastian and Uncle Jim, aren't you, my Prince?"

"I want to stay with Daddy and you." Finley pouted, trying to hide behind Owen but failing when Owen just kept dragging him back out.

"I know baby, but Daddy and me, we have to go to a funeral and it's going to be really sad, but you need to stay at school too Prince, so it's better if you stay here, okay?"

Finley begrudgingly nodded and hugged Owen tightly, allowing Owen to stand up so that Finley could also hug Raider. 

Sebastian looked on as he watched the little family express love and hug each other, Finley was being hugged from both sides by his parents, suspended in between them but enjoying every second of it. As he watched, Sebastian couldn't help but reimagine the situation, imagining that being himself and Jim with a miniature version of Jim being cuddled and loved.

Jim was watching his Sebastian carefully, watching as his eyes became sad and hopeful at the same time, slightly glazed as though he was lost in thought and only when he looked over at his brother, did Jim realise what it was that Sebastian was probably thinking about. He knew that Sebastian had thought about kids before, he'd mentioned it in his sleep before, a few years ago and Jim doubted Sebastian even knew that Jim was aware of his little dream. But Jim couldn't, he wouldn't, bring a child into his world, kids were liabilities and tools that were used for blackmail. They couldn't be useful and they couldn't be trained to be useful, Finley appeared to be the exception to the rules, but having been raised by two criminals it was almost a given that he'd been used to it, but Jim was more known than his brother and brother-in-law were, after all, he was the man who'd faced and defeated Sherlock Holmes, and to an extent caused his demise. If word got out that Criminal Mastermind James Moriarty had a child, it was more than likely that some two-bit tosspot assassin would attempt to take the kid from them, in whatever capacity they deemed suitable.

"Jim? You ready to go?" Sebastian announced, startling Jim from his thoughts and causing him to jump slightly. Sebastian was holding Finley under his legs, with Finley holding tightly on his grasp around Sebastian's neck, his face barely visible as it attempted to poke up over Sebastian's shoulder due to him receiving a piggy back from the Second Most Dangerous Man In London. 

"Yes, sure." Jim said, standing and walking over to his brother and giving him a hug, and giving him a hug, which startled both Raider and Sebastian, Owen just chose to glare at Jim and Finley was too busy trying to silently gain the attention of one of his parents to beg them not to let him go with them.

 

“Hope everything goes well, brother-mine.”

“Thanks, Jim.” Raider tentatively responded, his voice wavering with uncertainty and then stepping back to kiss Finley’s head, with Owen following suit and also bidding their son goodbye.

Sebastian shook hands with Owen and gave Raider a quick one-arm hug and then departed from the house, going down the steps and strapping Finley into the back of his car. Although the car was only meant to be a two seater, Jim had had it modified to fit another body in the car and with Finley being probably the tiniest person Sebastian would ever put in the back of his car, the small seat would be perfect for the kid.

With Finley strapped in, Jim also got into the car and waited for Sebastian to put Finley’s small travel bag in the boot of the car. There was an awkward silence where neither Jim nor Finley knew what to say to the other and instead Jim stared out of the window and Finley pulled a phone from his pocket. When Sebastian slid into the car, he was aware that Jim and Finley were both sat in silence and that neither really wanted to talk to the other.

“What time do you have to be at school then, Finley?” Sebastian enquired as he started to drive the trio back to their flat. 

“I start at nine, but Daddy normally drops me off at around ten to, Father says it’s because Daddy likes flirting with people, but Daddy says it’s because that’s what time I need to be there.”

“Do your teachers know that you’re staying with us this week?”

“I don’t know, maybe. I think Father went into to talk to them about it, I’ll get Daddy to ring in and let them know if they don’t.”

“When does your Father take you to school?” Jim enquired.

“He doesn’t.” Finley responded, causing Jim to roll his eyes, “He picks me up, Daddy goes out earlier than Father, so it’s easier for Daddy to drop me off and Father to pick me up, plus his work is only like ten minutes from school, so it doesn’t take too long.”

“Why doesn’t Raider pick you up?”

“Because he’s normally working.” Finley responded, rolling his eyes, “And he doesn’t really want me coming into HQ at the moment.”

“What’s going on at HQ then?” Jim attempted to wrangle out of Finley, but quickly stopped when he saw Finley give him a raised eyebrow in disapproval, a look that had Raider’s attitude all over it.

“Don’t be dumb.” Finley responded, exasperated with Jim and resembling a little brother that Jim lost far too often to not seem a copy off.

“We’re here.” Sebastian suddenly announced, cutting the engine as he pulled into his parking space beside Jim’s Jaguar C-X75 and their Ferrari 458. Jim climbed out the car and went straight up to the apartment, leaving Sebastian with Finley.

“Jim doesn’t really like me that much, does he, Uncle Seb?”

“Don’t take it to heart Fin, he doesn’t really like anyone.”

“He doesn’t want kids, does he? That’s why you’ve taken the opportunity to look after me, and that’s what you told Jim, even though you know that Aunt Jessie could look after me, or Uncle Q and Uncle James, now that they’ve got Casper, or even Uncle Alec, but you doubt you’re ever going to get your own kids, so you’re going to take every opportunity to look after another, aren’t you?”

“Has anyone ever told you you’re too smart for your own good?” Sebastian replied, taking Finley’s hand and shutting the car boot, with Finley’s little Avengers travel bag on his back, he started to lead Finley towards the stairs.

“Daddy tells me a lot, but MI6 just tell me that it’s like having a smaller version of my Dad there.”

“We’ve set the guest room up for you,” Sebastian told him once they’d got to the flat, “Do you want to settle in there first, then come and make some dinner with me?”

“Yeah sure.” Finley mumbled as he stepped into the flat, his eyes wide as he looked around the flat. Kicking his shoes off at the door, Finley padded through the flat, his dinosaur clutched tightly in his arms and following quickly behind Sebastian so that he didn’t end up going the wrong way.

By the time Finley had settled in and Sebastian had left his nephew to unpack his bag, Jim had ventured out of his office and changed out of his suit and tie into jeans and a shirt, more relaxed due to it being his flat, but still slightly smart due to having a MI6 Agent sleeping in his guest room. Jim sat at the breakfast bar waiting for Sebastian to start preparing dinner and when Finley left his temporary room, he immediately ran and hid behind Sebastian’s legs, suddenly very shy around Jim.

“Hey now, you’re not shy. Everyone knows that, you heard your Father earlier, come on. I need a little helper for dinner.” Sebastian told Finley, running his calloused hands through Finley’s soft, limp hair. Feeling Finley gently nod, Sebastian picked him up under the arms and placed him on the counter.

Finley helped them get the dinner ready and when it came to eating, Finley took a seat next to Sebastian and kept his head down, one hand under the table and the other gently holding a fork and shovelling food into his mouth. Jim could see Finley’s arm move gently and he suspected it meant he was texting one of his parents under the table.

“Texting your parents, Finley?” Jim asked, watching as Finley stilled.

“Not quite, no. Auntie Jessie was asking me how I’m doing.”

“Why does she care?”

“Because she knows you scare me.” Finley muttered, his head hanging low and dropping his fork onto the table. He could see as Jim’s hand lifted and Finley immediately dived from his chair and ran down the corridor, dropping his phone on the carpet as he went. Sebastian stood up and sighed, going after Finley to check on him, as Jim picked up Finley’s phone. It’d been left unlocked and Jim took it back to the table, scrolling through he read as Finley told his Auntie just what he was thinking.

\- Aunt Jessie, what do I do? I gotta stay with Jim and I’m scared. – FS

\- You’ll be fine baby, what are you doing at the moment? – JL

\- Uncle Seb left me to unpack my stuff and then I got to make dinner with him, what if I mess up Jim’s flat? He’s going to be super mad with me. – FS

\- He won’t Fin, don’t worry. If he get’s angry, phone me straight away, I’ll tell your Daddy I was worried for your safety love, try not to panic – JL

\- I’m scared to do anything, Auntie Jessie. I don’t even want to sit on the bed incase I mess it up. – FS

\- You’re going to be fine darling, finish unpacking your stuff and enjoy dinner, Sebastian’s going to be there, isn’t he? – JL

\- Yeah he wants me to make dinner with him – FS

\- That’ll be fun, Sebastian’s really nice, try and stick with him. – JL

\- I’ve started eating dinner, Jim just keeps staring at me – FS

\- Are you okay? I can phone your Daddy if you’re too scared Fin – JL

\- I’m going to make Sebastian stay with me, Jim scares me too much, he keeps lifting his hand like he wants to hit me – FS

\- If he comes anywhere near you in a threatening manner you phone me straight away – JL

 

Jim dropped Finley’s phone, before picking it back up and standing to head towards Finley’s room.

Gently, Jim pushed the door open and was met with the sight of his sniper laying on the floor on his stomach, his hands stretched out, attempting to tempt Finley out from his spot under the bed. Sebastian looked up as Jim came into the room, but ignored him in favour of continuing to talk in a soft manner to Finley. Jim came round to lay beside Sebastian and shuffled forward so he could pass Finley his phone back.

“Hi, Finley. I think we need to get to know each other a little better, don’t we? How about you come out from underneath your bed and we talk, yeah? Sebastian can sit with us too; we just need to get to know each other, because I think I’m probably more scared of you, than you are of me. And we both know you’re pretty scared at the moment, aren’t you?” Jim softly said, feeling like a twat but if it stopped his brother from wanting to kill him for traumatising his child, then so be it.

Finley softly nodded, wiggling out from his space and pulled his knees up to his chest as he leaned against the bed.

“We stay here.” Finley quietly demanded.

“Okay, we do this on your terms, okay?” Jim said, groaning as he also sat up, but sitting opposite Finley a meter away to show that he was prepared to give him space.

“Yeah,” Finley murmured, shifting slightly as he grasped at his dinosaur, “What do you want to know?”

“Well let’s start from the beginning shall we?” Jim asked, smiling very kindly at his nephew.

Finley and Jim sat opposite each other for hours, Finley eventually offering up information about himself without Jim having to delve too deeply. It pleased Sebastian and by time Finley was falling asleep sitting up, it was late and he willingly allowed for Jim to tuck him into bed, whispering a gentle goodnight and falling asleep by the time Jim had moved to the door,

When Finley needed waking for school the next day, Jim woke him up and took him to school, holding Finley’s hand the entire walk. And when Finley needed picking up that night, Jim did that too.

The week passed quickly, with Finley hiding out in Jim’s office underneath the desk whilst Jim worked in a bid to stop Sebastian trying to force Finley to wash, and running round the flat with Jim chasing each other as Jim tried to make sure Finley was dressed for school adequately and had eaten his breakfast.

By the time Owen and Raider were coming to pick Finley up, he was napping with Jim on the sofa; Jim’s arm was tucked tightly around Finley and both were asleep, startling Raider and Owen when they noticed the two were comfortably resting together.

“They’ve been like this all week,” Sebastian told them, “The first day they were terrified of each other, by the end of the week they were ganging up against me.”

“So they got on okay?” Owen asked, staring at his son.

“I think so, having Fin for a week definitely helped Jim see that having kids aren’t as bad as what he believed.”

“Reckon you might end up getting some?”

“Doubt it, but Jim seems much happier in regards of looking after Fin, if either of you ever need it.”

“Might take you up on that sometime.” Raider told him, hugging Sebastian and murmuring thanks as Owen went to pick Finley up off the sofa. Jim’s arm tightened around Finley, but when he woke and noticed Finley being tucked into Owen’s arms, he let him go and allowed for him to leave. Heaving himself up, Jim stumbled sleepily over to Sebastian’s side and slid under his arm, putting his weight onto him as he waved a goodbye to his brother and his family.

“Take me to bed, Bastian.” Jim mumbled, turning on his heel and pulling Sebastian behind him. 

"Jim, it's half two in the afternoon, we have to go to a meeting in a few hours."

"I have something to show you." Jim insisted.

Reluctantly Sebastian nodded and continued to follow Jim to the bedroom. He followed closely, but gave Jim enough space that if he was to whirl around and attempt to argue over God-knows what; Sebastian wouldn’t be in immediate fire. Jim stepped into his walk-in wardrobe and motioned for Sebastian to sit down on the bed. Knowing better than to disobey the Boss, Sebastian sat down on the edge, his ankles crossed as he leaned back on his hands.

Jim came back out; holding a box in his hands and wouldn’t meet Sebastian’s eyes. Instead he shuffled onto the bed and sat cross-legged at the top of it. Carefully, Jim removed the lid of the box and set it aside gently. He pulled out papers and notebooks, not yet looking at Sebastian even when he felt the Sniper shift around on the bed so that he could face Jim. Sebastian glanced over the items, but didn’t really understand what they were. Sensing Sebastian staring at him, Jim took a breath and said,

“This is Raider.” He told him, passing him a photo of his little brother, “He was around four hours when Mother took that photo of us.”

“How old were you?”

“Nine years old. You can clearly see how not thrilled I was at the prospect of having a baby in the family. Especially not one that was born six weeks early.” Jim huffed, smiling slightly at the sight of complete anger scorn his face, “Throughout Raider’s life, until he left when he was eleven, I’d collect some of his belongings. Even when I didn’t particularly like him. There’s school reports, detention slips, information about his milestones, photos of him getting his first haircut, all sorts.”

“Why’d you do that? Isn’t that what most parents do?”

“Yes, Sebastian. However you’ve met my Father and his complete lack of competence towards my brother. He barely allowed Mother to take photos of Raider, him being an assassin and all that. So, I guess I kind of took it upon myself without realising to become a kind of parent to him, guide him through a lot of his life and teach him how to survive. When Raider ‘died’, I swore off children. I’d failed the only one I ever swore to protect and therefore I didn’t feel like I could be an adequate parent. To be honest with you, Sebastian, I still don’t feel like I could. However, whenever I see you with my nephew, and when we looked after him this week, something changed. Only slightly.”

“Jim, are you saying what I think you’re saying?”

“No, Sebastian. I’m not asking you to have a child with me. It’s biologically impossible. However as the adoption papers have been processed remarkably quickly, I assume you would like to accompany me to a Children’s Home today to meet with the children and see which one we would like to adopt.”

Sebastian stared at Jim in silence. Shock covered his features as he processed everything that Jim had just unloaded onto him.

Jim watched as Sebastian rose off the bed, panicking internally slightly as Sebastian started to step towards the door. That was until he felt Sebastian pluck Jim off the bed and stand him up so that he was facing him.

“James Alexander Blaze Moriarty, it would be my absolute honour to raise a child with you.” Sebastian told him, smiling slightly down at him and wrapping a tentative arm around his waist, pulling Jim closer when he felt Jim relax and lean into him.

“Well that’s good, Sebastian Bronson Moran, because the meeting we have to attend in a few hours is at the Children’s Home.”

~~~~~

Sebastian followed closely behind Jim as they stepped into the Children’s Home.

Jim was dressed in his 'Moriarty' persona, his suit and tie were on and his hair slicked back. His eyes were softer though and his grin not quite manic, it was as though the thought of getting their own child was calming Jim, to the point where he seemed more like the ‘James’ Raider had spoken of remembering.

“Afternoon, Sirs.” Someone said as the two criminals stepped into the home. “How may I assist you?”

“Afternoon, Miss. Sebastian and James Moran.” Jim spoke, indicating to himself and Sebastian as he spoke. Using Sebastian’s name had been a well thought-through cover up in case anything came up associating Jim with the crimes he’d committed. Sebastian’s name was clean, thanks to Raider helpfully wiping his dishonourable discharge and making it look honourable.

“Great! Well, my names Lucy. You said you was looking to adopt, correct?” ‘Lucy’ asked as she routed through some piles of paper and pulled out one with Jim and Sebastian’s name on.

“Yes,” Jim supplied, “Any gender, age, ethnicity and religious backgrounds, that’s what we agreed, yes?”

“Of course, Sir.” Lucy responded, “If you guys would like to follow me, I’ll show you through to where the kids are playing. Some of the older kids, our teenagers, are probably out or up in their rooms, but the little ones will be fine with entertaining for now, they’re a great bunch of kids.”

Lucy brought Sebastian and Jim through to where the younger children were playing and fighting over the TV.

“Kids! This is Sebastian and James, you guys need to be on your best behaviour because here to see what you guys are like.” Jim watched as all of the children immediately settled to listen to Lucy, it was the same responsibility Jim had over his network, only children were a lot more temperamental.

But Sebastian hadn’t noticed, hadn’t noticed as Jim went and settled down on the floor cross-legged, the children clambering over each other in order to see the funny man with the funny suit properly. He was too busy watching a small child, whose little black head of hair was wobbling behind the sofa. 

Stealthily, Sebastian motioned one of the children, who looked a bit older, probably around ten years old, over and asked,

“Whose the kid that’s hiding?”

“That’s Alex. He don’t talk much.” The kid shrugged, “But he’s a good kid, he just needs some help.”

The kid walked off at the end, not giving sebastian a chance to ask what kind of help. Instead, Sebastian took matters into his own hands and moved round to where ‘Alex’ was.

“Hey,” He softly said as he knelt down to the kids height, “You okay down here?” 

Receiving a timid nod in response, Sebastian settled next to the kid, his back to the sofa and his knees pulled up, leaving his hands on his knees when he saw the kids eyes widen slightly as they disappeared.

“Do you like it here?”

A shrug.

“What’s your name?”

No response.

“That’s okay, I know you heard me ask. You’re Alex, right? I’m Sebastian. What you doing down here?”

This time Sebastian was met with a drawing pad being held up.

“Oh cool, they’re really good drawings, Alex!” 

Sebastian watched as the little boy’s cheeks flushed with embarrassment.

“Sebastian?” they heard Jim say, the kids still giggling at his Irish accent.

The man in question stuck his head up over the sofa and smiled at Jim.

“It’s dinner, want to help me bring this lot into the dining room?”

For once, Sebastian listened, as it didn’t sound like an order, but rather just a simple request. Nodding, Sebastian stood up, holding out a hand for Alex to tug himself up with.

Alex looked at the outstretched hand, before very gently placing his own hand in Sebastian’s and allowing the man to pull him up. He instantly dropped his hand upon standing and dropped his eyes to the floor, one arm still tucked possessively around the sketchpad and following the same older child that Sebastian had spoken to before through to the dining room.

Once seated, the kids were chattering and asking the two questions, from job titles to movies to music to reading, they’re were quizzed on everything.

By the time they were due to leave, Jim hadn’t noticed anyone in particular that really caught his eye, there was a few kids, such as Jemima, Evy and Ronan that he had bonded with, but none it would seem like Sebastian had.

Alex had sat near to Sebastian at the dinner table and had kept his head down whilst he ate, smiling slightly every now and again at things Sebastian would say to make him react. 

Upon their leaving time, Alex had stepped forward and tugged on Sebastian’s hand, shocking most of the children around him at Alex’s sudden change in demeanour as he actively socialised with a potential carer.

“Y’ can take this.” He whispered, barely audible to anyone but Sebastian, who’d knelt down so that Alex could give something to him. Holding out a piece of paper, Sebastian turned it over and saw what it was Alex had been drawing at the dinner table.

It was a little picture of Sebastian and Jim. Jim had his suit and tie and sticky-up hair that Sebastian guessed was Alex’s attempt to draw the slick-back look. The drawing of himself was a little taller than Jim and a little wider, clearly trying to symbolise the muscle Sebastian had, but Alex had also attempted to add faint marks to Sebastian’s face and arms.

“They your scars.” Alex pointed out, his English not quite right but Sebastian didn’t have the heart to care.

“Thank you, Al. I’ll keep it nice and safe in my wallet.” Sebastian told him, pulling out his wallet so Alex could see him tuck it safely away. Holding up his hand, Alex smiled slightly and looked up from the floor, gently touching hands with Sebastian in what was an attempt at a high-five. 

Waving goodbye, Sebastian and Jim left the home.

“He’s the one, isn’t he?” Jim said before they’d even got off the property. 

“Yeah, I think Alex is.” Sebastian responded, wrapping an arm around Jim’s shoulder and pulling him into his side. They walked through London like that, suddenly it didn’t matter that Jim was the ‘consulting criminal’ and Sebastian was ‘the master sniper’. They were just Jim and Seb, two future-dads.

~~~~~

Alex moved into to their little family easily. He still didn’t speak much, but Sebastian and Jim learnt very quickly what Alex liked and didn’t like. He liked space and science, but he didn’t seem keen on dinosaurs and sci-fi. He liked the colour grey but he really liked army green. He liked pasta but wasn’t big on beef.

They also knew that putting Alex into school would be difficult. At five years old, Alex was supposed to have started school by now, but exceptional circumstances had been granted and he was allowed to be home-schooled for a while. Sebastian had read through Alex’s file when they first adopted him, having been silenced whilst watching his mother beaten to death in front of his eyes by his deranged Father, it had sent the boy into a life of being quiet. Overtime he found his voice, giggling a little louder and politely asking for drinks, instead of whispering and staring at the drinks instead.

When it came to meeting the family, the ordeal was approached cautiously.

First he met Raider, Jim’s 00-Agent of a little brother and an absolute maniac, Raider’s husband, Owen, and also Jim’s nephew, Finley. Alex had been quiet at first, sitting close to his parents as he drew with Raider; Finley sat watching from the kitchen island. At five years old, he was the closest in age to Alex, but he knew when to keep his distance. Gradually though, Alex started to speak to Finley and when Sebastian and Jim realised that they were starting to become friends, they pulled Owen aside and requested the number for Finley’s private school, Alteron School.

Next, he met Severin Moran, Sebastian’s twin-brother who was still working in the army. Sebastian and Alex went to meet Severin from the train station after his homecoming had landed him in Bristol and not wanting to drive down, had instead got the train down to London.

“Good journey, Sev?” Sebastian had asked as they hugged each other. Severin nodded, before kneeling down to Alex.

“Hey, Alex. I’m Severin. How are you?”

“I’m good, thank you.” Alex had responded, shaking Severin’s hand and looking at his dog tags.

“Here.” Severin said, pulling off his tags and drapping them around Alex’s neck. “Now we’ve got two soldiers in the army.”

Alex beamed a huge smile at the Moran twins and took Severin’s hand. Sebastian had been surprised how quickly he’d bonded with his brother, having assumed that it would take longer. They led Severin out of Paddington Station and drove home, Severin sitting in the back with Alex so that he didn’t feel excluded.

Severin adored Alex and Alex adored Severin, wanting to spend every minute of his day with his new Uncle and drawing pictures of him that he wanted Severin to keep. 

It seemed as though slowly, Alex was becoming the Moran they wanted him to be.

“Al, you need a middle name, bud.” Severin had told him.

“I do? Do you got one?” Alex had asked.

“Yup, Zachary.”

“Severin Zachary Moran.” Alex had tested, nodding at it.

“And your Daddy is called Sebastian Bronson Moran. And your father is,”

“James! James Alexander Blaze Moran!” Alex had told him, causing Severin to raise an eyebrow at Sebastian.

“You got married and didn’t tell me?”

“Not official. Still just engaged, Sev.” Sebastian replied.

“I wanna be Cameron. Alex Cameron Moran.” Alex announced quietly, causing them to look at him. “My first Mummy was called Cameron.”

“Brilliant choice, Little Man.” Sebastian had said, smiling fondly at his son.

~~~~~

 

In his short life, Alex had been taught loss, love, family and friendship. He just didn’t expect it to be in the space of six months.

Sebastian had got the call early in the morning, at around 2:45am. He’d had to stay at home, Alex was poorly and he wouldn’t stay with anyone else, clinging to Sebastian and crying pitifly.

“Stay, Seb. It’ll be fine, it’s a standard meeting, nothing new.” Jim had told him. 

For once Sebastian wished he argued. He’d wished he’d put his foot down and said he was going, Alex would have to stay with Raider. But instead he’d put his son first. He wished he’d have at least insisted he take someone better than that idiot Jacobs.

“Boss is down. We don’t think he’s going to get back.” Jacobs had told him over the phone.

Smart man, Sebastian had thought, if he’d have told Sebastian in face, Sebastian was sure he’d have killed the man himself.

He was still sat on the sofa when Alex came out of his room to get breakfast at 7am.

“Daddy? What’s wrong?” He asked, having seen that Sebastian’s eyes were red and blotchy.

Sebastian reached out for Alex, pulling him into his lap and holding his close.

"Daddy? Where's Father?”

"I'm sorry baby, Father's not coming home."

“Is he leaving us?”

“No baby, it’s just, sometimes when people are really sad, they go away.” Sebastian told Alex, they kept so much of their true lives hiden from Alex that now was not the time to tell that Jim had been murdered by someone. “And your Father was very sad and even though he loved us both very much, he had to go away.”

“Is he coming back?” Alex asked, his eyes filling with tears and his bottom lip quivering.

“No, my solider, he can’t, he’s not coming back.” He replied, his own eyes filling with tears too.

“Why? Have I been bad again? I promise I won’t be anymore trouble. You can take me back, I promise I’ll be good. I promise not to want bedtime stories when he’s busy. I promise!” Alex pleaded, not understanding.

“No, you haven’t Prince, and you’re not going anywhere. It’s not, it’s not that simple.”

“You’re not going to get really sad, and leave me too, are you, Daddy?” Alex whispered as tears fell clumsily down his face.

“No baby, I’ll never leave you.” Sebastian told him, holding Alex close and not moving. “I’m not going anywhere.”

**Author's Note:**

> Imagine Person A explaining to their young child that Person B is dead and what being dead means.
> 
> This is the type of kid I imagine Alex looks like:   
> http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/little-boy-ponders-his-misdeeds-1956-taken-for-an-article-news-photo/143675609


End file.
